Rolling mills



p 1967 H. L. F. BOND ETAL 3,342,054

ROLLING MILLS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 6, 1964 IM vsm-rcnzs HARRY L. F BOND & REGINALD D. SWALLOW LW Q M THEI ATTOENEV I Se!)t 1967 H. L. F. BOND ETAL 3,342,054

ROLLING MILLS Filed May 6, 1964 Y I 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 q L7 r I IMVENTOES HARRY L.F. BOND 8, REGINALD D. SWALLOW Q7241; TH

Sept. 19, 1967 H. L, F. BOND ETAL ROLLING MILLS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 CLEARANEE- Filed May 6, 1964 INVEN-TOQS HARRY L.F. BOND & REINALD D. SWALLOW JAM a 7%;

TH IR ATTOBNEV United States Patent 3,342,054 ROLLING MILLS Harry Laurence Fred Bond, Hathersage, near Sheffield, and Reginald Dennis Swallow, Todwick, near Sheifield, England, assignors to Davy and United Engineering Company Limited, Sheffield, England 2 Filed May 6, 1964, Ser. No. 365,280 Claims priority, application Great Britain, May 16, 1963, 19,584/ 63 9 Claims. (Cl. 72-238) This invention relates to rolling mill stands for rod mills.

The rolls of the stands of rod mills are often provided with duplicate grooves, so that when a first groove, or set of grooves, become worn, the guides are merely axially adjusted in the mill housing to bring the product into line with a second groove, or set of grooves, and rolling may continue until the second set of grooves are similarly worn. This arrangement provides a saving in the time since otherwise the rolls of the particular stand concerned would have to be changed, and this operation takes considerably more time than that of adjusting the guides axially in the mill housing. a

In a rod mill train in which the rolls of alternate stands are provided with an oval pass and a round pass, the wear of the grooves providin the round pass, particularly when these are in the last stand of a finishing train, must be kept to a minimum in order to provide sufficiently accurate round section rod. It invariably happens therefore, that the rolls of the stand containing the round pass have to be replaced when the rolls in the previous stand containing the oval pass are not worn enough to require replacing.

In one aspect the present invention provides a pair of rolling mill stands mounted on a common underframe, one of the stands being mounted in a manner permitting adjustment of its housing relative to the underframe in a direction transverse to the pass line of the mill.

In a preferred form the invention provides a pair of rolling mill stands for a rod mill, which stands are mounted on a common underframe, detachably locatable on a foundation, the first of the stands including a pair of rolls having :a first number of oval passes, the second of the stands including a pair of rolls having two sets of round passes, each set having a number of passes equal to the first number, and the housings of one of the stands being adjustable relative to the underframe, transversely to the pass line of the mill, whereby the oval passes may be aligned with either set of round passes.

The following description relates to the accompanying drawings which show, by way of example, a pair of rod mill stands in accordance with the invention.

Of the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a pair of rod mill stands with some parts omitted,

FIGURE 2 is a view in the direction of arrow II in FIGURE 1, and

FIGURE 3 shows a part of FIGURE 2 on an enlarged scale.

A pair of rod mill stands 12, 13"are mounted on a common under-frame 14, which in turn is detachably secured to foundation skids 15 by dowels 16.

Each stand 12, 13 includes :a pair of spaced apart housings 17, each comprising a U-sectioned underframe 18, to which a T-sectioned upper housing member is prestressed by bolts 21. Each underframe 18 is formed with feet 22 which rests upon the eccentric surfaces 23 of cams 24 carried by pairs of shafts 25 located beneath opposite sides of the housings, with their axes 26 normal to the pass line 27. The shafts 25 are rotatably mounted in bores of upstanding lugs 28 welded to the underframe. Since the surfaces 23 of the cams are eccentric rotation of the shaft 25, to which the cams are secured, adjust the height of the stands.

Stand 12 includes a pair of rolls 30 having grooves, not shown, which shape the stand into rod of oval crosssection, whilst stand 13 includes a pair of rolls 31 having two similar sets of grooves 32, 33 respectively which shape the strands into rod of round cross-section. As seen in FIGURE 3, in the example illustrated each set includes a plurality of passages which may be twenty four passes in number, the grooves of the sets being arranged alternatively. The rolls 30 also have a plurality of passes preferably consisting of twenty four grooves spaced'from one another at a distance equal to the spacing of the grooves 32 from one another and the grooves 33 from one another.

The cams 24 are arranged in pairs on either side of the lugs 28, with a clearance X at least equal to the distance between adjacent passes of the different sets of grooves 32, 33. Limited axial movement of the shafts through this distance X is therefore possible, whereby either set of passes 32 or 33 may be :aligned with the passes ofthe rolls 30.

The lugs 28 have abutments 34 which co-operate with similar abutments 35 on the feet 22 of the housings, to locate the housings against movement parallel to the pass line 27. Pairs of check plates 36 (shown only in FIG- URES 2 and 3) are secured to the lower parts of the housings, in contact with the outer side surfaces of the pairs of cams, to locate the housings laterally relative to the cams. Bolts 37 are received in oblong shaped holes 37a formed in the feet 22, whereby the bolts extend between the feet 22 and the lugs 28, to secure the housings in firm contact with the surfaces 23 of the cams, prevent lateral movement of the housings once the grooves of the stands have been aligned. Nuts 38 on the bolts. are easily releasable to allow the adjustment of the lateral or vertical position of the stand.

An arm 40, having a forked end, and extending from the underframe has a lever 41 pivoted thereto by a pin 42 passing through the forked end of the arm and a hole in the lever. Links 43 are pivoted to the lever 41 and to a lug 44 extending from the base of one housing of stand 13.

The underframe 14 includes lateral beams 45 and longitudinal beams 46. By having both stands mounted on a common underframe the stability is sufficient for the plant to be steady once the underframe is properly located on the skids 15 by the dowels 16, so that the underframe need not be bolted to the foundation skids. The dowels may be replaced by cotters: or similar readily releasable means, which do not increase the time of roll changing, which is involved in releasing and securing bolts. Oil, grease and water may be supplied to both stands from common sources (not shown), such that when the stands and underframe are lifted together for roll changing only one set of oil, grease and water connections need be broken.

In operation, the stand 13 is first arranged with one set of round grooves aligned with the oval grooves of stand 12. When the first set of round grooves wear so that they no longer produce rod of the desired cross-section, the nuts 38 are slackened and the stand 13 is moved laterally by means of lever 41 until the second set of round grooves are in the required position aligned with the oval grooves. The nuts 38 are retightened and rolling continues until the second set of grooves are also intolerably worn. By this time the oval grooves in the rolls 30 will also require changing due to wear, The pair of stands and the underframe are then merely lifted in one operation and replaced by a similar pair of stands and underfra'me.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, we have explained the principle and operation of our invention and have illustrated and described What we consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, We desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

We claim:

1. In a rod mill, the combination of a pair of rolling mill stands arranged in tandem,

each of said stands comprising a pair of opposed housings,

a pair of rolls rotatably supported by each pair of said housings,

a common underframe on which said pair of rolling mill stands are mounted to form an operative unit,

a foundation for said underframe,

quick release means for detachably securing said underframe to said foundation, whereby said under-frame and stands are readily removable together as a unit for roll changing, and

means for adjusting one of said stands relative to the underframe in a direction transverse to the pass line of the mill.

2. In a rod mill, the combination according to claim 1, wherein the pair of rolls supported by one pair of said housings have complementary grooves defining a first number of oval passes,

the other pair of rolls supported by the other of said pairs of housings and having complementary groves defining two sets of round passes,

each said set of round passes having a number of passes equal to said first number of oval passes,

said means for adjusting including means for adjusting said one stand relative to the underframe in a direction parallel to the axes of the rolls supported thereby through at least a distance between adjacent passes of the different sets of grooves.

3. A pair of rolling mill stands according to claim 1 including dowels for detachably securing the underframe to the foundation.

4. A pair of rolling mill stands according to claim 1 in which the housings of each stand are adjustable vertically relative to the underframe.

5. A pair of rolling mill stands according to claim 1 including a lever pivotally secured to the under-frame and ill one housing of the adjustable stand, for effecting movement of the adjustable stand.

6. A pair of rolling mill stands according to claim 1 including a pair of shafts located beneath opposite sides of the housings of the adjustable stand, having axes parallel to the axes of the rolls, and being mounted on the underframe for limited axial movement relative thereto, the housings being supported on members carried by the shafts,

7. A pair of rolling mill stands according to claim 6 in which the members carried by the shaft on which the housings are supported comprise cams having eccentric surfaces, and in which the shafts are rotatable, whereby the height of the adjustable stand may be varied.

8. A pair of rolling mill stands according to claim 6 including means for bolting the housings of the adjustable stand to the underframe.

9. In a rod mill,

a pair of rolling mill stands arranged in tandem, each of said stands including a pair of housings,

a pair of rolls rotatably supported by said housings,

a common underframe for supporting said pair of stands as an operative unit,

a first securing means for each housing for rigidly connecting said housings to said underframe and having members restraining the housings from moving both vertically and horizontally relative to said underframe,

a foundation for said underframe,

a second securing means for connecting said underframe to said foundation having a member for restraining the underframe from moving horizontally relative to the foundation and permitting said underframe to move vertically relative to said foundation.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 280,470 8/1883 Daniels 72234 287,008 10/1883 Daniels 72-238 614,324 11/1893 Huber 72221 825,657 7/1906 Kennedy 72-238 1,762,292 6/1930 George 72--248 RICHARD J. HERBST, Primary Examiner. A. RUDERMAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A ROD MILL, THE COMBINATION OF A PAIR OF ROLLING MILL STANDS ARRANGED IN TANDEM, EACH OF SAID STANDS COMPRISING A PAIR OF OPPOSED HOUSINGS, A PAIR OF ROLLS ROTATABLY SUPPORTED BY EACH OF SAID HOUSINGS, A COMMON UNDERFRAME ON WHICH SAID PAIR OF ROLLING MILL STANDS ARE MOUNTED TO FORM AN OPERATIVE UNIT, A FOUNDATION FOR SAID UNDERFRAME, QUICK RELEASE MEANS FOR DETACHABLY SECURING SAID UNDERFRAME TO SAID FOUNDATION, WHEREBY SAID UNDERFRAME AND STANDS ARE READILY REMOVABLE TOGETHER AS A UNIT FOR ROLL CHANGING, AND MEANS FOR ADJUSTING ONE OF SAID STANDS RELATIVE TO THE UNDERFRAME IN A DIRECTION TRANSVERSE TO THE PASS LINE OF THE MILL.
 2. IN A ROD MILL, THE COMBINATION ACCORDING TO CLAIM 1, WHEREIN THE PAIR OF ROLLS SUPPORTED BY ONE PAIR OF SAID HOUSINGS HAVE COMPLEMENTARY GROOVES DEFINING A FIRST NUMBER OF OVAL PASSES, THE OTHER PAIR OF ROLLS SUPPORTED BY THE OTHER OF SAID PAIRS OF HOUSINGS AND HAVING COMPLEMENTARY GROVES DEFINING TWO SETS OF ROUND PASSES, 